Dead or Alive: The One that Got Away
by Synthesis
Summary: Ayane speaks with a shinobi whom escaped: an indirect attempt at character analysis.


**Dead or Alive: The One that Got Away**

"Ayane? Ayane! Ayane, you forgot your books!"

_Little obsessive bitch..._ Despite the calling voice, she stormed out of the building at a faster-than-normal pace. She didn't trust herself to face her half-sister. Not in public. She knew, more often than not, it would come down to fighting. Last time they had fought in front of others, it had caused an upheaval the likes of which the town hadn't seen since a major city official was implicated with a nation-wide smuggling operation by the _yakuza_, Japanese organized crime.

In truth, she did worry about her books, if only because loosing them meant she had to replace them, and being the younger child, she had little access to monetary funds. But, thanks to that maroon-haired bimbo, she would have to get them tomorrow when she returned to school.

The first thing she noticed as she exiting the main school building was that rain had steadily increased since the morning, going from a light drizzle to a steady downpour, much to her displeasure. She hadn't brought an umbrella, not out of lack of foresight but of concern, she her dark blue school uniform was starting to stick to her body in wet patches. _Damn weather. It never rains—it pours._

She knew where she could get one, though the thought of what she'd have to do was almost as bad as being thoroughly soaked. As she jogged down the street, she can to an T-intersection, where the street parted left and right between the thick concrete walls that surrounded houses in the suburbs. It became a decision of going left or going right. _I'll go right, I guess. The bastard's probably lonely anyway. _

A short walk down the right revealed a small park, empty due to the rain, with the exception of a solitary figure sitting on a bench. 'The bastard', as she had dubbed him in his thoughts, was almost entirely disguised by a black raincoat. Despite that raincoat, he held an open umbrella over his head, as though he wanted to keep the coat dry as well.

Under the hood of his coat, he turned to face her. "Somehow, I knew you would come."

"Fuck you." She walked over to the bench and sat down on a dry spot, uncomfortably close to the Bastard. It had been the decision between soaking her skirt and underwear, or having to sit closer to him, and she chose the later.

He nodded. "Bad day at school, I guess."

She opened the cover of her briefcase-like school bag and took out the only contents of any real importance inside it: a pack of cheap cigarettes and a butane lighter. She removed a cigarette from the pack and held it between her lips, then began fumbling with the lighter.

The Bastard waited until she had lit the cigarette before he reached over with his free hand and took it from her. He dropped it and crushed it beneath the tip of his right shoe. "That's a disgusting habit, Ayane, especially for a girl your age."

Ayane turned to him and scowled. "Don't you have anything to do, old bastard?"

"Of course I don't, Ayane-chan," he retorted humorously. "You're aware of my 'condition'."

Ayane sighed and let her head fall back. She was very aware, actually.

The Bastard, whose real name was Akito, came from the same Shinobi clan as she had, the Mugen Tenshin School. Actually, he was neither old, nor a bastard. He was somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties, and was born into a prominent standing in the clan. Ayane had known him back in their village, before she had left to enter public school, for as long as she could remember.

Akito was an anomaly, even for the Shinobi. After several years as a successful, well-liked ninja, he had rather suddenly, in his early twenties, announced that he wish to leave. He had never given a real reason, other than he was tired of the rigorous lifestyle of the Shinobi. Naturally, his request was denied. No-one could just 'leave' the Shinobi, without consequence, and he knew that.

"So, how are you today, Ayane?" he asked, almost stupidly.

"Why the hell do you care?" she responded, taking out another cigarette. This time, he refrained from stopping her. Instead, he continued with his questions.

"Why is it that you always have such a bad attitude, Ayane-chan? I don't remember having that problem when I was your age..." he mumbled from underneath his hood. "...how old are you anyway? Fourteen? Fifteen?"

Actually, she was fourteen. Most people assumed she was older, due to the fact that, like most shinobi, she had reached puberty at an earlier age. She didn't respond.

"Fourteen, eh?" he asked, as though he could read her mind.

"Fuck you, old bastard."

He nodded. "Right, that again." He cocked his head to the side. "Speaking of which, _have_ you started fucking yet?"

She could have very easily torn him apart, especially given his condition. She could just reach up and wring his neck underneath that raincoat, until that stupid voice of his stop asking questions. It would take less than ten seconds.

The old bastard coughed into his free hand, a strong, hacking cough. It was the distinct cough of someone in the twilight of their life. He then continued. "Actually, I suppose it's more of a question of who rather than if," he mused. "You and that sister of yours."

Akito was irritating. And he had used that to his advantage. After being denied his request, he spent the next few years doing whatever he could to get himself forcibly exiled from the School. It was a difficult task, walking the fine line between expulsion and execution. He had continued on his missions, but began using firearms, banned by the common laws of the Shinobi. He began selling information to rival tribes, in return for worldly comforts, such as alcohol and money. All this was detestable behavior, but for some reasons, the leaders of the School chose to keep Akito alive, and within their grasps.

The old bastard coughed again, this time more violently, nearly falling out of the bench. As she shook, rainwater fell from the umbrella and extinguished Ayane's cigarette. She removed the cigarette, inspected it, and turned to him. "You're really no good for anything, are you? You can't even hold an umbrella up."

He surely would have responded if it weren't for the fact he couldn't stop coughing. He hacked away, until a final, blood-curdling cough, as though he had loosened part of his lungs. He sat up, shook his head several times, and rested his back against the bench. She could tell that his breathing was forced, more so than normal.

It was with this that Akito had gotten free. The 'condition', as he called it. The leaders of the Mugen Tenshin School, upon learning of it, elected to release Akito from all of his obligations as a ninja, and he had wandered off into 'civilized' society. That had been a few years ago, and here he was today. No one would have ever imagined that he had once been a great Shinobi.

Ayane stood up, now holding her briefcase over her head. "I need to go, old bastard. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She began walking away from the bench.

Akito cleared his throat. "Actually, I don't think you will."

Ayane turned. She could tell he was taking a smug satisfaction from her surprise, but that was just it, surprise. He had sat at that bench every afternoon for the past few years, certainly as long as she had been at this school. "What do you mean?"

Akito removed his hood, giving Ayane a clear look at his face. His complexion pale, almost to the point of being waxy gray, and his eyes were deeply sunk into their sockets, completely yellow except for red veins crawling along them. His hair was also on the verge of loosing its last traces of brown color, with only his eyebrows remaining dark.

"I've finally given in. I'm going to the hospital for treatment tomorrow, though the doctors say my chances aren't very good." He struggled to his feet, closing the umbrella. "Whether or not it succeeds, the chemotherapy will have me bedridden for some time." He paused for a moment.

"Either way, I won't be coming back."

Behind her, Ayane heard footsteps approaching. It was Kasumi, still holding Ayane's workbooks. It didn't seem as though she had heard Akito's announcement, since her face bore an expression of anger towards her sister until she saw the former-Shinobi.

"Konichiwa, Akito-sama!" she mumbled, before bowing politely. "How are you today?"

Akito returned his hood over his head and nodded. "I'm fine, thank you, Kasumi." Akito stepped forward and handed the umbrella by its handle to Ayane. "Here, take this. Try and remember it when you're raining," he told her condescendingly.

Ayane took the umbrella from Akito, spun around, then stormed off. Kasumi looked at Akito again. "Sumimasen, Akito-sama. I don't know what's wrong with her."

He chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with her. It's just her nature. Saiyonara, Kasumi-chan."

And with that, Akito walked off into the rain, alone.

Kasumi ran to catch up with Ayane, who walked underneath the shelter of the umbrella. "What's wrong with Akito-sama?"

Ayane looked at Kasumi. _Stupid bimbo._ "Baka. The old bastard has leukemia."

With her childlike innocence, Kasumi's eyes seemed to glaze over. "Oh my god...really? He's dying?"

Ayane smirked. It was that childlike innocence that she hated about Kasumi, among other things. _Stupid, stupid bimbo..._ "He's been dying since before he came here. Why do you think they let him go?"

Kasumi blinked. "Oh..."

_You only good to them as long as you're useful.__ Once you're sure that you're near your end, they may let you go._ Akito was the only Shinobi to leave the Mugen Tenshin alive, that Ayane knew of. He left, convincing the leaders that he only had a few months to live.

He had stretched those few months into nearly a decade.

_It's the only way you escape_, Ayane told herself. _The only way you can escape the darkness of the Hajin-Mon._

**Author's Notes:**

A rushed attempt a _true _'Dead or Alive' fic, though I wonder if you could even call it that. I'm not very happy with how it came out, since it was initially intended to be a fanfic exploring Ayane's psyche, and it didn't really end up like that. I promise my future attempts will be better --;;

Incidentally, I really like Kasumi, though I _love _Ayane (heh...bad fanboy!), this was my first attempt to incorporate both of them into a fanfic, however meager it was. Please, review, and tell me where I've gone horribly wrong! Also, I should mention that this takes place before DOA 1, though I'm not completely familiar with all the details of the series --;;


End file.
